workshops

National Youth Dance Company announces Guest Artistic Directors for 2019 – 2021

Our resident National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), home to some of the country’s brightest young dance talent, has appointed its next two Guest Artistic Directors: Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Russell Maliphant in 2019-20 and acclaimed choreographer Alesandra Seutin in 2020-21.

The company will begin creating a new commission with Russell Maliphant in autumn 2019. He takes over from current Guest Artistic Director, the Olivier award-winning dance artist Botis Seva whose work for NYDC, MADHEAD, premiered at DanceEast in Ipswich on 20 April. MADHEAD tours to six further venues across England this summer, closing at Sadler’s Wells on 19 July.

Now in its eighth year, NYDC has established a reputation for innovative, challenging and influential work, producing open-minded and curious dancers. The company brings together the brightest talent from across England, immersing the members fully in the process of creating, performing and touring new work, giving them a unique insight into the dance profession.

National Youth Dance Company 2018-19

Russell Maliphant, NYDC Guest Artistic Director 2019/20, said: “I am very happy to be working as the next Guest Artistic Director for National Youth Dance Company. NYDC provides great opportunities for young dancers to develop in to world class performers – I have seen this in action over the years and have personally worked with some of that talent in my own company.  I’m looking forward to starting this season with another new generation of dancers here in the UK.”

Alesandra Seutin, NYDC Guest Artistic Director 2020/21, said: “I am very excited and honoured to work with National Youth Dance Company as Guest Artistic Director in 2020/21. I look forward to breaking boundaries with the dancers of the future, and having the opportunity to be part of this beautiful process is amazing. With the support of Sadler’s Wells, I hope to continue growing as a leader and a maker collaborating with NYDC to keep its reputation for innovative, challenging and influential work, producing open-minded and curious dancers.”

About the new Guest Artistic Directors

Russell Maliphant established his own dance company in 1996 as the framework to create productions and work with his own ensemble of dancers. Since then, he has received two Olivier awards, three South Bank Show awards and four Critics’ Circle National Dance awards. He became an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells in 2005.

Russell’s work has been performed by renowned dance artists including Sylvie Guillem, BalletBoyz, Munich Ballet and English National Ballet, for whom his piece Second Breath was part of the critically celebrated programme Lest We Forget. Two graduates of NYDC, Edd Arnold and Folu Odimayo, make up part of the Russell Maliphant Dance Company and can be seen performing in Silent Lines at Sadler’s Wells, on 18 & 19 October.

Performer, choreographer and teacher Alesandra Seutin grew up in Brussels and lives in London. She studied dance internationally and continued her training at the École des Sables in Senegal as a student of Germaine Acogny. She is now a worldwide ambassador of the Acogny technique and teaches at École des Sables and globally. In 2007, she founded Vocab Dance Company, and has progressively built an international reputation for creating thought provoking and visually striking performances. 

Alesandra presented Boy Breaking Glass as part of Sadler’s Wells’ 20th anniversary commission, Reckonings, in October 2018 alongside works from Sadler’s Wells New Wave Associate Julie Cunningham and current NYDC Guest Artistic Director Botis Seva.


NYDC has begun its search for the next intake of 30 young dancers to join the company, with NYDC Experience Workshops taking place across England until 8 July.

The organisation has been granted further support for the two years ahead from the Department for Education and Arts Council England, to continue nurturing the country’s young dance talent and to build on the dance artists of the future.

For full NYDC tour dates and tickets for MADHEAD, click here.

“When you free your mind, that’s when creativity happens”: Sadler’s Wells Gets Creative with Clara Andermatt

Get Creative is a major annual celebration of the nation’s arts, culture and creativity, highlighting the central role that creativity plays in people’s lives. From 11 to 19 May, Get Creative invites the entire nation to get involved and share its creative talents.

We are passionate about the power of creativity and believe it offers something special for everyone. For the fifth year in a row, we will be taking part in the Get Creative festivities with two dance workshops on 13 and 17 May: one for over 60s and another for young children aged 2-4 and their carers.

Ahead of this, we speak to Clara Andermatt, renowned Portuguese dancer and choreographer, who will lead the first workshop alongside our over-60 resident company, the inspirational Company of Elders.

What does creativity mean to you? Why is it important?

Creativity to me is when you are able to transform somehow, to transform reality. I think everyone has the capacity to be creative. Creativity depends on imaginative minds, the ability to materialise and realise creativity in a personal and unique way. Sometimes you are more creative in your head than whatever you are trying to show in your materialisation, because the mind is so immense. I also feel that creativity never ends. There’s this sense of constant possibilities, and I think everything can feed this creativity. It really depends on the way you look at things.

Clara Andermatt. Image: Ines D’orey

How does dance help you to express, experience and explore this creativity?

I think dance has the capacity to open up channels in your body and in your mind. I have a phrase that I say a lot to my students: “The more you can free your body, you free your mind, and when you free your mind, that’s when creativity happens.”

It’s an amazing and beautiful thing, to dance, to move. When you move, you don’t need to think about anything. It’s also something you can use to get more in touch with yourself. And you don’t need to make it beautiful – you can move and it can be ugly but it’s so wonderful to yourself!

It’s also really a physical thing – you make all your systems and metabolism dance also. That is so important for your creativity. You are able to open and relax, and when your mind relaxes your creativity can flow. Your body expands, your creativity expands. As Merce Cunningham said: “When we dance, we feel alive.”

Clara Andermatt. Image: Ines D’orey

How valuable are the arts?

Art has the capacity to transform people, and to make them think and feel. When you watch or experience some form of art, you also become that thing somehow. You experience it in your mind and on your body, even if it’s just through observation. It’s fascinating really and I believe it’s been proven. Art enables you to discover yourself, to get closer to your own thoughts and feelings. It opens up many questions, and questioning things is really a way of getting to know yourself and discovering things about life. The more you know yourself, the more you can participate in the world around you. You can be part of the whole. There’s a lot to do in life, and I like to participate.

The arts are different from science and mathematics. There is no right or wrong. It’s something that can expand your own being and the way you express yourself. The more you discover in your interior, the more you can then exteriorise it. The arts have this amazing power to be able to do that.

In your opinion, do the arts offer something to people from all walks of life?

Absolutely – from all ages and all bodies. My work has a lot to do with that. We all have unique bodies. It’s the expression of this singularity, of each person and each body, which makes up the full potential of the performance and of the world. Otherwise we’re all the same, we all do the same, and that’s so narrow. What is beautiful is to showcase the many expressions of different bodies and personalities with different qualities. Different forms and deforms. The importance lies in mixing it all. We learn so much from experiencing and by watching and seeing. It’s important for us and it’s important for others.

Company of Elders. Image: Ellie Kurttz

Your career as a world-renowned dancer and choreographer spans over 30 years. What are the key ingredients for a long creative career spent doing what you love?

There’s no secret (laughs). When we have secrets, we don’t profit from them – the more you share, the more you gain! I would say my key ingredients are the passion and the love. My dad used to say that love is attention and dedication and the older I get, the more I understand this. So if you love something that you do you, put that energy there. The energy is precisely that attention and dedication you give, as well as the time you spend on it.

Clara Andermatt. Image: ACCCA – Companhia Clara Andermatt

Of course I can’t put luck aside. Luck is also something that life presents to you. It’s up to you to grab it, you know. And I jumped into life from my mother’s womb straight to a dance studio! There was no question about it. In a way, the questions only appeared later. Dance was something I always loved to do.

It’s also important to live in the present, to be fed by the present. That and the energy that other people give me keeps me going. I’m much more of a collaborative than a closed person. That’s where you really generate creativity. There’s no secret really – I just like to feel the intensity of life, to be in the world and not of the world.

Clara Andermatt (left) and Mickaella Dantas in collaborative dance project ‘A Educação da Desordem’ in 2018. Image: Alípio Padilha

What words of advice or wisdom can you offer to first-timers considering attending our open session for over 60s?

Again, as Merce Cunningham said: “The only way to do it is to do it,” (laughs) so if you are willing to experience something new, just come and have the experience. I think experiencing new things in life is a sign of being alive, of being curious about things. Of course it takes courage, but when you take that step you continue wanting to discover yourself, to keep transforming yourself and the things around you.

I also think it’s a very strong and powerful experience to actually be in a class with other people that are moving, and you are communicating and sharing things with your body. You don’t have to talk. There’s a kind of language you are using to communicate with yourself and the others.

Clara Andermatt. Image: Estelle Valente

There’s a first time for everything, and it’s important not to take things too seriously, to feel uncomfortable sometimes. Maybe you won’t like it, but maybe it will just connect with you and suddenly it may change everything. You have to be willing to continue finding different connections in life. Maybe it’s not dance, but you’ll never know until you try!

You can find out more about Clara’s work and keep up with her company via Facebook and Instagram.

The Company of Elders will perform a mixed bill of exciting works in the Lilian Baylis Studio on the 14 June. The evening will see a revival of Natural, a piece combining text and dance created by Clara for the company in 2005. For more information and to book tickets, click here.

Get Creative is led by BBC ARTS and What Next?, in collaboration with various arts, cultural and voluntary organisations across the UK. For more information about the campaign, and how we are getting involved, click here.

Sadler’s steps into summer

Sadler’s Wells takes to the streets this summer with a dazzling programme of events across London and the UK. As part of our ongoing work bringing dance into the community, we will be hosting and participating in events across numerous outdoor stages, hoping to make the most of the dancing weather. 

Cally Festival
Sunday 17 June

Cally Festival takes over one of Islington’s most iconic streets, Caledonian Road, for a free day of activities celebrating our local neighbourhood. Sadler’s Wells co-hosts the Bus Stop Stage with Urdang, an academy training young people in dance and performance. The programme features performances from Artistry Youth Dance Artistic Director Kamara Gray, the Flying Seagulls and street dance choreographer Neo, as well as the students from Urdang. There will be workshops from our monthly group for young children and adults, Family Fridays, as well as La Escuela de Baile, a flamenco school led by Artistic Director Nuria Garcia.

Soul in the City
Saturday 23 June

Old Men Grooving joins the Finsbury Park Community Hub as part of the Islington-wide Soul in the City festival. This is a workshop aimed at classic dance lovers, intended to (re)introduce people to their groove via a selection of memorable tunes from the 1950s through to the 1980s. Old Men Grooving – a group of five men aged 40 to 60 brought together by a shared love of dance – have featured on Britain’s Got Talent and live by the ethos that good music never gets old.

The Great Get Together
Sunday 24 June

The Great Get Together is a nationwide event bringing London’s diverse communities together, inspired by the late Jo Cox MP. Sadler’s Wells presents a family-friendly programme of music and dance in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, including performances and workshops from hip hop dance powerhouse Breakin’ Convention, Tim Casson’s interactive dance performance The Dance WE Made and a moving female trio by Tavaziva Dance which communicates a universal message about human fragility within our changing world.

Lilian Baylis Arts Club rub-a-dub
Wednesday 4 July

Our resident weekly dance club for the over-60s takes to the Islington Assembly Hall for a day of activities supported by All Change. Learn how to dance to ska and rocksteady in our rub-a-dub workshop curated by David Hamilton, co-founder of Phoenix Dance Company whose recent show Windrush: Movement of the People played at the Peacock Theatre to critical acclaim.

Latitude
Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 July

Sadler’s Wells returns to Suffolk’s popular Latitude festival for the eleventh year to showcase dance on the Waterfront Stage. National Youth Dance Company make a pit-stop on their national tour to perform Used To Be Blonde, choreographed by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sharon Eyal, and audiences can see an exclusive preview from Sylvia; an Old Vic, Sadler’s Wells and ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company production, choreographed by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Kate Prince and co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW. We’re also looking forward to rising star Jamaal Burkmar‘s new company Extended Play, which will be going back-to-back with Humanhood as a double bill.

Open Doors: Vote 100
Sunday 22 July

A free day of fun and entertainment at Here East, celebrating 100 years of women’s suffrage with performances, talks and activities. Open Doors: Vote 100 is the first event devised and delivered in tandem with all of our partners in the recently-announced cultural and education district in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: the BBC, UAL’s London College of Fashion, V&A, Smithsonian Institution and UCL. Expect a diverse programme of film and music, dance and poetry, displays and debate.

National Theatre River Stage
Friday 27 – Sunday 29 July

Throughout the summer, the National Theatre’s River Stage hosts a series of takeovers from companies across the spectrum of the arts, including music, theatre, film, circus and dance. Our turn at the helm is a weekend dedicated to dance in all its forms. Breakin’ Convention – the award-winning and critically acclaimed hip hop dance powerhouse that celebrated its 15th anniversary this year – open on Friday night with Freestyle Funk Forum, an hour of improvised theatre that’s hip hop’s answer to ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’. Step Change Studios will be showcasing ballroom dance by disabled and non-disabled dancers, and visitors can take part in family-friendly sessions including flamenco, Lindy hop and a ceilidh. Vidya Patel and Shammi Pithia present their new work Converse for the first time and Dotdotdot Dance, the UK-based flamenco dance company co-founded in 2014 by Magdalena Mannion, Noemí Luz and Yinka Esi Graves, presents live music and a variety of works including When Viola Met Margas and Into Being. More information and a full line-up can be found on the National Theatre’s website.

Wilderness Festival
Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 August

Sadler’s Wells returns to the eclectic Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire with a pick of dance acts, including Janine Harrington’s playful and interactive dance-puzzle STACK and Hofesh Shechter’s lauded Clowns, performed by Shechter’s new junior company Shechter II.

Photo credit: Casson & Friends, The Dance WE Made.